Wet wipes are commonly used for cleaning in industrial environments where it is desirable to have them dispensed from packaging in a convenient manner. In industrial environments, workers often have their hands busy, so that it is desirable to have wet wipes dispensed from a package in a manner that would allow them to be grasped easily with one hand from the package without requiring or occupying the other hand. In some types of industrial uses, the wet wipes are impregnated with solvents or other volatile chemicals, so that it is also desirable that the dispensing package have the ability to retain evaporant vapors within the package where they will not endanger the health of the workers. For example, solvent-impregnated wet wipes are used on car assembly lines for cleaning the surfaces of car bodies prior to spray painting.
Accomplishing both these objectives in packaging for solvent-impreganted wet wipes has been problematic. Since the solvent-impregnated wet wipe for industrial use can be quite thick and bulky, a large opening is required to remove the wet wipe from the package. However, a large opening can allow too much solvent vapor to escape into the ambient environment where it may present a health or environmental risk. Therefore, the prior art teaches that using a resealable package is necessary to contain evaporation of the solvent.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a prior art packaging system, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,786 to McBride, has a stack of wet wipes 10 contained in a package 12 formed by top and bottom panels 12a, 12b that are sealed together. The top panel 12a has an elongated central opening 14 formed by a through-cut in the panel material that leaves a flap 14a that remains attached to the top panel 12a by a hinge portion. A wet wipe is retrieved by lifting the hinged flap and pinching and pulling up a wet wipe through the opening. A resealable door member 16 has an adhesive layer 16a on its lower surface which is attached to and overlies the boundaries of the flap so that the door member can be re-sealed to cover the top panel opening in between wet wipe retrievals. Another example of a prior art package is shown in FIG. 2 formed with flexible top and bottom sheets and a similar type of hinged flap for resealing a central opening in the package. Other proposals include a tube type of outer package having one end resealed with a wire or tie closure.
However, in the prior art packaging systems, raising the resealable flap or manipulating the wire or tie closure to gain access to the wipes is a cumbersome two-handed operation which is exacerbated if the workers are wearing gloves to protect their hands from the solvent. One hand is required to hold the package down while the other hand grasps and manipulates the flap or closure to uncover the opening. Then one hand is used to hold the flap open or hold onto the closure device while the other hand is used to pinch and draw out the wipe from the container. It is also difficult, particularly with a gloved hand, to selectively pinch only the top wipe, due to the generally low-friction surface of the wipe and the friction-reducing properties of the solvent. The large opening, which is necessary in the prior art designs to gain access to and to draw out the wipe through the central opening, promotes premature evaporation of the solvent from the wipes in the package. Due to the evaporation problem, the opening must be resealed after each wipe is removed.
When the wet wipes are used in industrial environments, such as cleaning car bodies for painting, the sequence of steps to retrieve a wet wipe with both hands from the conventional type of resealable package can be inconvenient for the duress and time constraints of an assembly line operation. The prior art packaging systems require the use of unnecessary time and energy to procure each wipe. It is therefore desirable to provide a package for dispensing wet wipes, particularly those that are impregnated with solvent, which can be operated easily with one hand to retrieve a wipe in the time constraints of an industrial environment without having to reseal the package.